Treatment

Removable appliances

In children malocclusions can be treated with removable appliances. In severe cases treatment should start in the primary dentition (baby teeth only). Normally the patient should be at least 6 years old. 8 to 9 is the ideal age to start. The patient wears the appliances only at night. In this way they donÄ«t bother during school hours and donÄ«t cause a problem with oral hygiene.

Fixed appliances

Fixed appliances, also called brackets, are glued to the teeth. The patient has to be in the permanent dentition, which means at least about 12 years old. Fixed appliances can position teeth more precisely then removable appliances and they do it faster, since they are working 24 hrs, 7 days a week. Through carefull application of gentle forces fixed appliances donÄ«t need to hurt; actually they should not. Since 20 years I practise a combined approach in treatment of children with a first phase of removable pretreatment and fixed finishing. In this way I can often reduce treatment time with the fixed appliance to one year or less. In my opinion this also gives the best and most stable results.

Fixed lingual appliances, invisable appliances

Many adult patients, but also a growing number of youngsters donÄ«t want to show their braces. In those cases brackets made of see-through or tooth -colored ceramic material (instead of metal) can be used. If the appliance has to be completly invisable, the brackets can be attached to the inside surfaces of the teeth. Initially this lingual technique caused a number of problems for the patient. ( like a sore tongue, blurred speech etc. ) With the new generation of "incognito" brackets those problems are no longer a problem. Whether lingual appliances are for you, only a personal consultation can tell.

"Invisalign" technique

Certain maloccclusions can be treated with see-through plastic appliances, similar to a night guard. They slip over the teeth and have to be worn 20 hrs per day. Those appliances are hardly visible, donÄ«t interfere with speech and most people will not notice them..These appliances will correct moderate malocclusions gently, precisely and (almost) invisable. If you need to be without the appliance for a presentation, date or dinner, you can - they are removable.